Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism

With irreverent wit, an engagingly personal style, and a battery of real-life examples, Ha-Joon Chang blasts holes in the "World Is Flat" orthodoxy of Thomas Friedman and other neo-liberal economists who argue that only unfettered capitalism and wide-open international trade can lift struggling nations out of poverty.

If you couple this book with Alan Greenspans book and hold our current economic crisis against them you can easily see where we have failed to apply what we know but instead began to believe our own propaganda.
The only truly successful Free MArket Societies are regulated one. It is not arguable. History simply proves it.

Dead Witch Walking

Rachel Morgan is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, apprehending law-breakers throughout Cincinnati. She's also a witch, one of the many Inderlanders who revealed themselves after a genetically engineered virus wiped out 50 percent of humanity. Witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves: the creatures of dreams and nightmares have lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But now they've stopped hiding, and nothing will be the same.

Outliers: The Story of Success

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing.

Gladwell continues to give us new views into our society and its workings. Great stuff. There is a lot here even if some subject are open to ongoing debate. I do think Gladwell should be a bit more forthcoming in discussing the opposition to his statistical conclusions though.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.

This is an excellent book covering the newest of theories Physics has to offer. However it is not as approachable as Hawking's books is my guess. I understood it even if a few sections had to be reviewed more than once but I imagine a person with less comfort in the subject might get overwhelmed and not really understand.

Hyperion

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

Judas Unchained

Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy.The Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life.

I just love this whole series. I do wish that modern Sci-Fi authors did not seem to think it is necessary to create scenes in all their books that are erotic to the point of pornography though. I am not a prude but it just is out of place in these books but becoming ever more common. Why?

The Fall of Hyperion

In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. Onthe world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing - nothing anywhere in the universe - will ever be the same.

The Prodigal God

Taking his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, Timothy Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.

This book is a foundational book in the revival of what it means to be Christian. I should say it is foundational in the return to the true message and intent of Jesus.
Traditional fundamentalist Christians will be shocked at the truth and obvious implication that they have become the elder Sons and Pharisees of the modern age.

The Dreaming Void: Void Trilogy, Book 1

AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.

The only reason I did not give this a 5 star is that it ends abruptly and not gracefully with the reader having to wait a long time for the next book. This is ok if the next book follows quickly but not so when the wait is over a year.
Otherwise I have enjoyed this book every goodbit as much as the rest of the series.

Erotic Short Stories: The Washington Stories

Eva moves to Washington and begins her new job in a legal firm. Before long she is moved under the control of Ms MaCabe, the dominante force behind more than just the company. Eva learns quickly the thrill of power in the bedroom as Ms MaCabe abuses her and her other staff, culminating in one final orgy of flesh and control. If you are, or know, a lawyer then you have to listen to these stories!

I just wanted to know why anyone would enjoy these kinds of books and after listening to about an hour this became the first audio book I ever stopped and deleted. It was worthless. Forget the nature of the content it was just so badly written that I find it hard to believe anyone ever made money by putting these words in sequence.
It prooves that just because you can do it does not mean you should. The world is a lesser place because this book exist.

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